Following up on her coverage from “Design and its Publics,” Alice Twemlow directed us towards this interesting detail on the speaker bio pages. Paola Antonelli is looking way sexy in her new headshot. Why, she doesn’t even look like the same person. We’d even venture to say that we can’t see a lick of clothing in that photo. And we likey.

The highlight of the first day was definitely the evening spent at the home of Blu Dot founder Charlie Lazor. His stunning FlatPak house is the flagship for a series of prefabs in which the panels, based on a simple 8-foot-wide, 1-story-high wall panel are flat-packed and constructed on site. He and his ebullient wife Zelda welcomed some of the world’s best-revered architecture and design curators and critics into their home with grace and apparent nonchalance. Despite its outward perfection, inside the house feels lived in, with the scuffs and scratches you get when two kids are having fun. And, when Zelda retrieved some cigarettes, we were comforted to see that they even have one of those kitchen drawers into which, just before guests arrive, you sweep all your kipple. It was a great party. We got to hob-nob with MoMA curator Paola Antonelli, Henry Urbach who is the new curator of architecture and design at SF MoMA, and the recently appointed director of London’s Design Museum Deyan Sudjic–mainly because they were stranded in the leafy suburbs of Minneapolis and we were standing between them and the dessert table, but hey, whatever it takes.

]]>Alissa Walkerhttp://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/curators-critics-and-historians-pack-lazors-flatpak-pad/274410#disqus_thread
Alissa Walker
http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/curators-critics-and-historians-pack-lazors-flatpak-pad/274410
http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/curators-critics-and-historians-pack-lazors-flatpak-pad_b274410Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:02:20 +0000Christopher Hitchens: Va. Tech Shootings A ‘Non-Story’Virginia Tech was a “non-story,” no more important than news of a “traffic accident.” Magazine editors should be ashamed of themselves for not publishing the Danish cartoons. Anna Nicole was a “fat slut.” Religion “poisons everything.”

Oh, and women? They still aren’t funny.

Some words of wisdom offered by Vanity Fair contributing editor, author, National Magazine Award finalist and newly-ordained American citizen Christopher Hitchens at the American Society of Magazine Editors’ annual board meeting/luncheon at the Princeton Club this afternoon in New York.

Hitchens, politely grilled by Slate editor Jacob Weisberg, sounded off on everything from Imus to Saddam to George Tenet in front of a roomful of magazine editors, but his comments about the slain Virginia Tech students seemed to be the most provocative.

“Virginia Tech is a non-story,” said the British-born Hitchens, who said he took his oath as a U.S. citizen earlier in the day. “There were no implications” of anything bigger, explained Hitchens, who compared the shootings to a “traffic accident.” When one editor suggested the massacre pushed gun control to the forefront of the American conversation, Hitchens argued that the laws in Virginia were adequate — shooting people is already illegal, Hitchens said.

Weisberg suggested Hitchens — whose latest book, god is not great: How Religion Poisons Everything is out tomorrow — was a provacateur; Hitchens bristled. As a journalist, your job is to “take nothing on faith,” he said.

When asked about his controversial piece in which Hitchens argued women are not funny, he pointed to male friends who “would not have a prayer of getting laid without being amusing.”

The latest newspaper circulation numbers are out, and the Daily News wasted little time in claiming victory over its arch-rival Post in New York-area circulation, which the News defines as “31 counties in the New York metropolitan area,” topping the Post by 60,000 copies. Despite the grim state of the industry, both the Post and Daily News posted overall circ gains.

The Wall Street Journal and (#2 nationwide) and USA Today (#1) were the only other two newspapers to post percentage gains in the top 10. The New York Times (#3) dropped roughly two percent.

The Post, though, still holds a razor-thin lead on the Daily News in overall circulation. The News‘ proclamation comes six months after the last circ report, when the Postblasted a historic headline after it surpassed the News for the first time.

Still, it’s a weird time to claiming any sort of victory, considering how grim the industry’s overall numbers appear. Circulation for the Star Ledger and Newsday, for instance, dropped plunged six percent.

Banned in San Francisco and likely on the way out in LA, too, plastic bags have truly become an enemy of the state, at least in California. But paper’s no angel, either; the only real solution is to get people to start bringing reusable bags themselves. One CalArts student staged an “ecological intervention” to confront shoppers with the concept.

On Earth Day Roman Jaster sat outside a Ralph’s supermarket and sewed fabric grocery bags for those heading inside. In exchange for a free bag, Jaster asked people to sign a pledge saying they’d use the bag for a minimum of six months. Paper Nor Plastic documents Jaster’s progress, including cute photos of him hunched over his sewing machine in action right outside the store. In fact, his personal touch is definitely what made people take pause. “I realize that it was a highly symbolic intervention,” says Jaster. “I see the real impact for change in the dispersal of the documentation. Thanks for helping me accomplish this.”

The fake story: An article on Associated Content, a site of user-generated content, reported that L-town students put a ham sandwich on the table to anger the Somalis. The story included humorous made-up quotes from superintendent Leon Levesque and Stephen Wessler, the executive director of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence.

4. Where do you get your car washed? Outside on the street when it rains.

5. Do you know your dentist’s first name? I think it’s Jeff.

6. Do you believe newspapers are going to die? If so, when? I hope not. i like reading them at the Starbucks in the Lucy’s on sunset. And on planes. I like that they don’t need batteries.

7. What was the last book you read?Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Legendary Neighborhood.

8. What’s the last book you say you read?

Roberto Bolano’sLast Night on Earth. But I’m just not finished with it yet. I swear.

9. If you got a unicorn what would you name it? Ralph Malph.

10. What does you TiVo think about you? What’s up with not erasing those Spurs games?

11. Character of fiction you most resemble?Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. Except I’m Mexican.

12. Who plays you in your bio-pic?Benjamin Bratt.

13. Do you floss? No.

14. Did you ever believe your toys come alive when you leave the room? Do you still? No.

15. How many old cell phones do you own? One.

16. Best show legendary biz/movie star encounter?Tim Gunn from Project Runway. I saw him in the lobby of the Standard, downtown. He could not have been nicer. I told him he should run for president. He laughed and did not think I was weird.

17. Do you get satellite radio? No.

18. And as a follow do you “get” satellite radio? No. But I would like to hear the show Joan Jett hosts.

19. Do you read the Enquirer/InTouch/Us/People? Oh yeah.

20. Do you lie about it? Hello! They are spread out like a fan on my coffee table.

We don’t seek to right wrongs … we just seek to write wrongs. And so we wrote, ad naseum, about how wrong it was for NBC to cancel our favorite show. Well, looks like we effected change: Studio 60 will return for six episodes on May 24. (OK, so we had nothing to do with this, but we’re going to take credit for it, anyway.)

We had second helpings of Helvetica this weekend as the documentary made its West Coast premiere. Gary Hustwit had attended sold out screenings in Laguna Beach the night before and although he claimed exhaustion from a month of jetsetting, Hustwit was bright-eyed and charming as ever.

The only bummer about the screening was the screen itself: the film was shown in a tiny 200 person auditorium housed the Gerontology Department of USC with horrendously uncomfortable seats and a sound system that consisted of two tinny speakers. We felt bad that this most film-savvy crowd didn’t get to experience the sweet HD camera work and fabulous score. At all.

Afterwards, though, the courtyard outside throbbed with enthusiasm and anticipation as people lining up for the 9:30 screening asked the 7:00 kids what they thought. And, in what seems to now be a tradition for these screenings, a Helveticake was served, with USC volunteers shaving off thick sans serif slices.